The Green Machine infrastructure prioritises environmental sustainability throughout its design. Access is only available during certain times, so that the servers aren’t eating up energy 24/7. The interface is minimal, with no extraneous graphics – the focus is the search bar. The only other feature of note is a dial showing how much energy each search is using. This reminds researchers that there is a material cost to using digital resources, encouraging efficiency and thoughtfulness when designing searches. Storage efficiency means metadata is also limited, so researchers often work with a bank of keywords rather than bespoke searches. Those searches might take some time too, thanks to the low bandwidth – but waiting longer for results means more time for our planet. The Green Machine gives researchers access to a centralised collection database, referring them to cultural heritage collections across the network of organisations. Centralisation means information isn’t duplicated, so that minimal server space is taken up. What is returned is of good-enough quality, and committed researchers can ask organisations directly for more or better-quality scans or information, if they really need to. The experience isn’t exactly user-friendly but helps ensure there will be users in further futures.
Links
Infrastructure Futures for Digital Cultural Heritage (project page)